Behind The Mask
by DreamerChic1
Summary: After transferring in the middle of the year, Rin had been widely known as one of the most handsome boys at Ouran. As an offer from Tamaki Suo he joins the host club. Both the Host Club and Rin have secrets, but neither will press for answers to the questions through their minds. Meanwhile Rin struggles to keep to try to keep vestiges of his past from destroying him completely.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Rin puts his clothes on and looks around his new room. Being adopted at 16 was rather amazing and he marveled at how light his shoulders felt, almost as if an incredible weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He pulled at the ponytail that he had yet to get cut. It was long and thin. His hair had a light brownish tint to it, which set it off from others at Ouran. It had always been like that, but he had never given it a second thought. Living an orphan on the streets of Tokyo, no one had really cared enough to take him in. Later on, he found an orphanage about 2 blocks from the area his father died. The fever had taken them. That's what he heard, but Rin knew that to believe the executives in his vicinity was to commit mental suicide, and, soon enough death by official. Many had to learn that the hard way.

But that was all past him now. Rin was a new man, and it was time for him to go to school once again. He knew that school was a bore, but he decided that with all of the ladies' words humming in his ears, he would be able to avoid all of the work, especially since almost all of the teachers are female. None of them really seem to care if I don't do my homework or forget about a 100-point project.

I put my jacket on, and head out of the door with Genko. On our way to the limousine, a boy named Tamaki, who Rin had seen around school, but usually he wasn't able to see him, because a cloud of girls almost always engulfed the being which stood before Rin and his new brother.

He had blonde hair and violet eyes. His bangs were shaggy and stood barely above his eyes, and he had a tall, slender body, not unlike Rin, except he was about 15% taller. He opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but not until Genko put his hand to him as if to say stop. Suo put his head down, which allowed his hair to cast an opaque shadow over his purplish eyes, but he did not stop. Suo did not waste more than a breath before he was striding over to Genko and Rin.

"Hello," he said bowing deeply towards Genko and not-so-deeply towards Rin, "I am Tamaki Suo, and I am the king of the host club." They bowed, not because of his supposed "title," but because of his father, the headmaster of Ouran Academy. They had to be respectful, though if he were anybody else no bows would have been issued, "I have come here to invite you to join the Ouran Host Club. We are in need of extra hosts and people do not seem to be interested in pleasing the ladies as they used to," said Tamaki face-palming himself. Rin nearly laughed at how orchestrated his movements were.

He allowed Genko to reply for himself first, since he was a third-year. Younger siblings are forced into submission by the code of honor. Whatever their older sibling says is of more importance than the "baby" of the family's thoughts. Rin realized this as Genko replied for the both of them, "I apologize Suo, but grades are very important in our family, and the past two times you have offered me this title, I will do just the same as I am now," people must really think that Genko is attractive if he had been offered to be a host multiple times before, "The only way to keep our grades up is to study and do our homework, and the less time we have doing that, the lower our grades will become. I apologize, Suo, but I will not be able to join your host club any more than my brother will."

Rin took this as his chance. He didn't want to be forgotten like he was on the streets; Rin wanted to be his own person, not Genko's. He spoke up saying, "I apologize for my brother's speaking in my behalf, because joining the host club seems to be an excellent opportunity for me to gain experience in the real-world. Suo, I believe I will take you up on that offer." This time Suo Tamaki bowed much deeper and thanked him profusely before leaving to his expensive car that didn't even have a brand. That's how the aristocracy of Japan acted though.

Eight periods later, Rin walked up to the room that Suo had written down on a piece of paper for him. He opened the doors to music room #3, and inside was...

The Host Club.

* * *

**A/N : Yes, I realize that I have not posted in a while, and that the story that you see today is not the same story that you have been reading, which inevitably means that my last story sucked and that I have decided to start a new one. This one actually has a plot, and a semi-feasible storyline, so you will probably like it better, even though you might need for some of the words in here (SORRY BTW). I love you guys, and I hope that you still like this story even though I decided to toss _Humanity_. **

**I do not own _Ouran High School Host Club _or any affilliated characters. **

**THANK YOU FOR READING!L!O!V!E!Y!O!U!**


	2. Crumbs

**Chapter 1: Crumbs**

Rin had never seen such an odd array of boys in his lifetime. It was really unusual to see all of them put their reputations as modest sons of the Japanese aristocracy on the line for the sake of a smile. It didn't make much sense to Rin, but then again being rich as a whole was an entirely new experience to him, so who was he to judge?

Rin entered the room almost unable to hide the discomfort he felt from all the smiling faces and skin being shown. It reminded him of some of the kinder men on the streets… except more refined. The people of the streets always seemed to find an optimistic viewpoint no matter what the circumstances. Rin had once seen a homeless man being held at gunpoint by a police officer. The cop was yelling at him to pay for some item that he'd stolen, or something, but even so… the man simply smiled and said, "I apologize, officer," he said bowing overly-deep to spite the cop, "but I have no money to pay this fine." That man died almost instantly from a bullet wound in his head, and even in his demise a smile was glued upon the old man's face.

Before leaving, Rin had heard the officer mutter to himself, "Filthy slime. Why don't we just shoot them all?" He had almost ran up to that man to give him a piece of his mind, but no before remembering the gun in his belt. He cowered and ran to the other side of the street, pretending like he hadn't seen anything. That scene had haunted him for his entire life on the streets, but now he had a chance to forget, and he took it with no hesitation. Life was good, right?

He must have come in late, since the girls were already seated next to their favorite host, listening to the romantic stories that flew out of their mouths. He decided that for a while, Rin would just sit and watch as the other hosts would regal their guests and try figure out what he would say. Rin was probably the most awkward person that he, himself, knew. He would always be trying to come up with something better to say. Then he might end up ranting on about something nerdy, like Star Wars or something. Rin was really scared that he would end up being a lot less charismatic than most the fangirls thought, so he tried to shift his focus to his notebook. He shifted lightly in his seat and began to draw a girl, she had long hair and a ponytail. Her eyes were black and her tears wiped the dirt from her face; she had very little clothes on. You could see the snow falling from behind her, and her shivering arms wrapped around her. A tear run down Rin's cheek. The one thing he missed from that life was on this page, and he would never see her again.

Suddenly, Suo-sempai was behind him, looking at the page he had just scribbled on, "My dear son, you are a Picasso with a pencil," Rin did not understand this, but he didn't say anything, "I have decided what host you are to be," I looked at him as he continued, "Rin shall be the "Lost" type. He lost his true love and now searches desperately for someone to fill the void in his heart. Although he still believes that "the one" is waiting for him, he is careful so as not to let his heart break again." Rin stood up and left the room.

In the bathroom, Rin leans against the wall. How does such an idiot know so much? How is he so smart when he can hardly spell his own name? Rin contemplated this question for a minute before being noticing that Honey, a third-year followed him in. Honey had blonde hair like Tamaki, but his eyes were brown, and he had this aura about him that made one _believe _that he was in middle school. Haninozuka-sempai, or Honey, as most affectionately refer to him as, was a shoe-in for the Boy-Lolita type, but his big, innocent brown eyes had more wisdom in them than you might first imagine.

Honey looked at Rin, taking in every detail of his face; Rin only looked back at the elder classmate. The most intelligent thing that had ever been uttered may have come out of that boy's mouth that day. He said, "Hi, Rin-chan. I saw that you left and I wanted to see what was wrong. When Tama-chan told me, I came right away. I just wanted to tell you about this book I read once. It said, 'Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.' That's my motto, to always find something good in a harsh situation." Rin did not stop looking at Honey, but Honey smiled and said, "C'mon! Let's go eat some cake."

On their way back to Music Room #3, Rin looked down at Honey and asked, "Honey-sempai, who said that thing about smiling."

"Dr. Suess." Rin almost laughed at the absurdity of the notion and then, realizing just how profound the words really were, he stifled it. Rin walked silently into the room. He had a smile on his face and would have faced a bullet with that same expression plastered onto his face. Surprising how much a Boy-Lolita could say. He had basically turned the table in 9 words. Rin knew that something was wrong if he was so susceptible to change that just a few words could put a genuine smile on his face.

Suo-sempai hugged him as if he had been gone for years, the other hardly acknowledged him, except for Morinuzuka-sempai though. Mori-sempai looked at him with a stare so icy that even Kasanoda might have been scared just then. Then he looked down, as if ashamed. Rin did not understand Mori-sempai. He had decided to talk to him later on.

**Takashi Morinozuka POV**

It has been 3 day since Rin joined the Host Club. Three days since Mitskuni followed him out of the Music Room. I haven't seen him in three days, not like I used to. That Rin has stolen Mitskuni from me. He was the one reason why—I shouldn't say things like that. It's wrong. Mitskuni isn't mine. He is only my friend. Rin did not take him from me. Mitskuni went followed him willingly. What if I chased Mitskuni away? What if this my fault?

**Back to Narrator Person POV**

It was raining and all the customers left early so as not to get too wet. Rin knew that today was the day he needed to talk to Mori-sempai. Three days without Honey has really done a toll on him. He was already poking at some mushrooms in one corner of the room.

He walked over to Mori-sempai, who only looked up at him vehemently, and sat down, "Mori-sempai, what have I done?" Mori stayed silent, "I promise that I did no willing act against you, and to my knowledge, Honey loves you just the same as he did when you were his shadow." Mori's expression changes to that of sadness and guilt. Rin notices this, and answers his silent self-accusation accordingly, "It isn't your fault that Honey hangs out with me sometimes, Mori-sempai. You shouldn't beat yourself up because he talks to other people; just like he wouldn't beat _himself_ up if_ you_ were the one talking to me. Plus, Mori-sempai, Honey isn't the only person in this room worth talking to."

Mori took this hint. He looked at Rin for the first time since the bathroom incident. This time though there was a smile edging at his lips instead of a grimace, "Ok," he said, and that was all he needed to say. They both stepped away from the fungal ridden corner, and walked toward their tables.

The storm had ended and now, at the end of the day, Rin saw the light beyond the clouds. The sun set on a cool, cloudless sky.


End file.
